The End

Who can blame Mike Nolan for kicking a field goal and then trying an onside kick towards the end of the game? At least he was trying something different. It was also a good idea to go for the end zone three straight times on the second to last drive after the 49ers got a first down at the Rams’ 28. Why not? This team can’t score in the red zone, so why not try to score for Darrell Jackson who should have made the catch on a high pass on the back of the end zone.

Vernon Davis, who had the ball in his grasp one play earlier, said, “It was probably one of my toughest attempts I’ve ever had in my life. I don’t know what happened.”

A defender got his hand on the ball while Davis was in mid-air is partially what happened. Davis also said, “If the ball had a little more air on it, it would have been a great ball.”

Here’s Nolan’s explanation for going for the field goal with 1:55 left.

“I thought, if we kicked the field goal, we had three timeouts, I knew we would get the ball back. I’d rather be playing for a win rather than overtime. We have not been effective, so if I could play for the win rather than overtime, I’m going to do it.”

Exactly. With an offense that bad, Nolan knows he has to take chances. So throw for the end zone and then leave it to your best unit, the special teams, to help you. The 49ers didn’t get the onside kick, but they still had time at the end of the game to win it.

Nolan said if it have been 4th-and-5 or less, he would have gone for the first down instead trying the field goal.

Other notes:

-The players seem to be moving from disappointment to disgust. Players were allowed to air their concerns in a Wednesday meeting, and while the team played better, they lost to the Rams who lost their first seven games.

“We’ve had so many meetings the last few weeks,” defensive lineman and team leader Bryant Young said wearily. “There’s not much more that can be said.”

–Alex Smith said he would know more about the condition of his forearm and shoulder this week.

-Nolan said there wouldn’t be any changes to the coaching staff. With the offense having so many problems to protection to dropped passes to bad routes to bad throws, it’s hard to throw a coach out into the street in late November. However the 49ers have three straight home games in December and if this game is any indication, crowds are thinning, and there might be pressure from the higher-ups.

-Young blamed the defense for failing to stop the Rams on their opening drive. “If that doesn’t happen, the game could have been different.” Here’s Young, who had 2.5 sacks this afternoon and had every right to be livid at the anemic offense, saying it was the defense that lost the game. Young by the way, has 12 sacks against St. Louis in the last seven games.